Math Lacuna/was Re: LUNA: Re: indigenous fuels

Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Sun, 25 Jul 1999 21:49:10 -0700

On Sunday, July 25, 1999 2:58 PM Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net> wrote:
> Eugene Leitl wrote: Thanks! (I'm useless with orbital mechanics).
>
> Eugene, get useful at orbit mechanics! It really isnt that difficult.
> The equations are all pretty straightforward, muuuch simpler
> than unix coding that so many on this list can do in their sleep
> (Im not one of those), and those equations allow one to separate
> the goofy ideas from the good ones. {8-] spike

Well, not that orbital mechanics is all that useful for Earthbound folk, but I have noticed that lots of intelligent people in the computer field -- people who can analyze problems, create elegant designs and solutions, even anticipate defects and usage -- do not like or cannot do mathematics about an algebra level.

Any ideas on why this is so? Can it be rectified? Should it be rectified?

Cheers!

Daniel Ust
http://mars.superlink.net/neptune/